Category: Book Reviews

A 5 star book review for “Haee The cat with a crooked tail” by R.S. Vern

Haee The cat with a crooked tail, “Haee and the other middlings”, #1, received a five – stars book review by Readers Favorite. Jessica Porter, book reviewer at Readers Favorite says:

“Are we not as happy as those who are much better off in this world?” After this statement I was hooked! Then seeing that first cat just blew me away! I love all the artwork! Haee gets restless with his life and decides to go looking for adventure and through his adventure he gets lost in a black hole but he meets a new family. He stays with the new family for years observing what they do and how they live their lives. He then again gets restless and decides to go on a new adventure with a street cat. This is where book two starts.

This book was very cute. I loved the wonderful drawings. The only drawing I had an issue with was the one on smoking. The drawings are really what make this book so cute. I can’t wait to get a hold of the rest of them and I think I am a middling as well!”

“Like all cats, Haee is a curious cat. One day, he decides to venture out of his comfortable home.”

When Haee, the cat with the crooked tail, comes across the black hole, he is overcome by curiosity. As he conjures the infinite roads the black hole can lead to, he decides to enter. After hours of exploring, one turn after another, Haee’s hunger sparks a desire to return home. There’s just one problem: He’s lost and terribly frightened by the darkness. Vern appears to use Haee’s adventures to show his audience, mainly children, the consequences of curiosity.

The second part of Haee’s adventures begin when Tom and Jane free him from the black hole and provide him with a worry-free, comfortable life. Rather than playing with other cats, Haee spends the majority of his time sun bathing. After several years of living in Tom and Jane’s home, he notices that his human friends engage in the same activities at nearly the same time everyday. Though both are happy, each has his or her own insecurities, aspirations, and desire for freedom from the routine activities of everyday life. Surprisingly, Haee is required to follow a daily plan like Tom and Jane, and is rewarded when he is successful.

Perhaps this second part of the book resonates strongly with adults. As children, they are allowed to roam free and explore the world. As grown-ups, they must abide to stringent schedules and deadlines, while constantly running the risk of feeling mechanical. When Haee’s restlessness grows, he leaves Tom and Jane’s home, and builds a new world with a bullied, red-nosed cat named Whie.

Throughout the story, Haee’s display of curiosity and courage are remarkable. When he wants to break free from routine, he simply does. Haee’s excursions will not only capture the imagination of children, but will also get a laugh out of adults as they anticipate the release of the next book in the Haee series.

I like author R.S. Vern’s take on life through the eyes of a cat. It makes it easier for readers to accept the messages she is attempting to get across. What are these messages? You have to read it to find out and I can guarantee that you will be changed, though in a big or small way, it’s up to you.

The author provokes us into thinking outside the box. She wants us to ask: “Is that it? Is that what life is all about? Being perfect? Doing all the politically correct things and having it all?” Sure looks good on the surface … but the illustrations show otherwise.

I like how she combines illustrations and words. I would say the illustrations tell an equally, if not more, compelling story of the ironic messages she is trying to convey. A picture means more than a thousand words, people say. How clever of her!

I would recommend this book to everyone: young adults who are about to embark on their journey of life and adults who outwardly think they have got it all but are unhappy inside. The presentation and approach in this remarkable book is simple and clear enough for children and teens to benefit from it, too! Even better, this is the first book of a trilogy, so if you like this book, you can get the other two when they come out!

There is so much truth in so few words and drawings. The author states: “Looking can make you want. Wanting can get you thinking. If you want them to stop thinking, just give them what they want.” This makes me think, “Will I stop thinking about it once I get what I want; will I start to want something else again and start the process all over, just like Haee The Cat?”

I love this book because it makes me want to question and think. That is not a bad thing at all, I think.– Cecilia Lee, Reviewer Allbooks Review International

How does one leave a middling – that is, average – life behind? And what does an unconventional existence look like?

In the second installment of a three-part series, local author R.S. Vern explores these questions and continues the story of Haee, a cat which is pretty average in every way, save for his exceptionally long tail. The first book in this illustrated series, Haee: The Cat with a Crooked Tail, saw the titular feline leaving behind a comfortable and routine life with his owners, Tom and Jane, to experience life on the streets.

Like the first book, The Unconventional Life of Haee features appealing illustrations which are whimsical but tempered with a dash of quirky, Edward Gorey-style grimness. As the story opens, Haee’s explorations have taken him to the back alley behind the neighbourhood. Here, he befriends a motley crew of cats, including Whie, who is ostracised by the others because of her “unusually big red nose”.

Unlike the others, Haee is attracted to Whie, who he finds “really special and interesting”, and not just because of her oversize schnoz. For starters, the latter is vegetarian – her way of “saving the world and making it a better and more harmonious place to live in”.

Whie’s “queer eating habit” befuddles all the other cats, except Haee. (It’s easy to see the parallel to the human world here: As a once-vegetarian, I can honestly say that few things perplex omnivores more than someone who won’t eat anything which once had a pulse.) Fascinated, Haee learns to eat leftover pizza discarded in the alley instead of the usual roaches and rats. He even goes so far as to implement a set of rules forbidding the alley cats from eating any living creature.

As with many noble New Year’s resolutions and good intentions, things go according to plan for a while. However, it doesn’t take too long before the cats tire of their new lifestyles and revert to their old, roach-hunting ways. Disillusioned, Haee decides to move on without Whie, who is perfectly “comfortable with her life” in the alley.

Ending on an inconclusive note, this book sets the stage for book three, where we’ll (hopefully) find out the answers to questions such as: Will Haee return to a safe and comfortable life with Tom and Jane? Will he see Whie again? And will he ever find the different life he is looking for? Then again, as the author notes, perhaps life is not about achieving that perfect ending, but “having that extraordinary journey”, where dreaming and searching never stops.

The Unconventional Life of Haee, Tuesday, September 18, 2012
By Lynette Koh, Senior Writer, ilovebooks.com

What does it mean to be “middling”? The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes it as being of “middle, medium, or moderate size, degree, or quality”. In other words, average. In this charming illustrated book for children and adults, local author R.S. Vern explores the middling life through the eyes of Haee, a cat which is pretty ordinary save for its unusually long and crooked tail.

The first installment in a planned trilogy, the story sees Haee leaving his comfy home to explore the world. After losing his way, he is adopted by Tom Stuck and Jane Fruss, a very ordinary sort of couple. Haee gets used to leading a routine life with his new owners, but eventually gets bored and heads for the streets, where he befriends the alley cats, including Whie, a cat with an unnaturally big nose.

Bittersweet and seemingly simple, this story embodies the ambivalence the author feels about an average, middle-class existence – possibly mundane, yes, but reassuring in its certainties and not without its own joys.

So, on one hand, you have Tom and Jane, a middling couple who always “wake up early for work, go for evening jogs and sleep early at night”. They do have secret dreams: Organic food-loving Tom fantasises about moving away from the city, while Jane wishes she could fly away and see the world. However, they continue going about their routine lives, never acting on these inner desires.

On the other hand, there are also moments in the book where the author hints at the possibility that the things which prevent us from making major life changes may actually be much less frightening than we think.

Early in the story, for example, Haee gets lost after he enters a black hole he comes upon after leaving home. “Alone and terribly frightened”, he regrets his earlier curiosity and swears never to “act so foolishly and recklessly again”. At this moment, he is petrified when he sees “a pair of huge claws coming at him” in the darkness, but the claws turn out to be the (skinny) hands of Tom Stuck, who rescues Haee from the black hole.

By making it apparent to the reader that the things which frightened Haee so greatly are actually pretty harmless, Vern slips in an important point: Perhaps it isn’t that scary or difficult to create a life less ordinary.